TSA to test less intrusive full-body scanners

YARMOUTH, Maine—The TSA has chosen two contractors to provide next-generation, full-body scanners for airports in California.

The scanners should provide “enhanced detection capabilities, faster passenger throughput and a smaller footprint,” California Watch reported. They will depend upon a “generic outline of the traveler rather than a more revealing image,” which the first scanners used and raised privacy and health concerns nationwide.

The two contractors chosen for the $245 million program were American Science and Engineering Inc. in Massachusetts and L-3 Communications Corp. in New York. The equipment will first be tested at a TSA lab before being tested at the participating airports, which have not yet been named.